[cross-posted]
There’s been a lot of talk over the past couple of weeks about newspapers endorsements in the presidential race:
Sen. John Kerry now holds a fairly narrow lead in the number of endorsements, but he has gained many more of the larger papers, holding about a 17 million to 12 million edge by circulation. Most telling, however, is that at least 35 papers that backed Bush in 2000 have now switched to Kerry, and another nine that supported Bush before have declared their neutrality this year. Only five so far have gone from Gore to Bush.
Twice, though, in recent days, I’ve come across blogs endorsing candidates. Yesterday, I saw that the insightful Micro Persuasion, run by Steve Rubel, endorsed Kerry:
I have shied away from any significant discussion of politics on this weblog, but after seeing Fahrenheit 911 over the weekend, watching the debates and thinking about it a lot, I now feel compelled to officially endorse John Kerry for President.
And today BoingBoing.net endorsed Kerry as well:
For us, the choice for Kerry involves simple things. Justice, liberty, privacy, transparency. Freedom of speech, thought, and technological expression. A woman’s right to choose. Equal access to health care, education, and economic opportunity for all. The rule of law, at home and abroad. Peace. The enduring value of the American Constitution.
These are wonderful things. The Bush administration has proven both inability and unwillingness to protect them. In 2004, Kerry is the one.
Note that neither of these are political blogs. These are “ordinary” people who have a primarily tangential interest in politics, but they’re using the printing presses available to them to express their political preference.
To me, this is really another break in the wall between citizens and journalists. In some ways, these blog endorsements are just as “real” as newspaper endorsements. As Dan Gillmor would say, we [are] the media.
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